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What Now?

It’s the end – that disaster you have feared has come to be reality. You’re praying you’re ready but not feeling very happy or even very secure about how prepared you are to take care of your family. Yet, you also know you are more prepared than most folks you know. Then you get that awful sinking feeling… you know the one that wakes you up in the dead of the first night… the one where you realize that you spent a lot of time trying to warn others and trying to make them understand the importance of putting at least something, anything aside for just such an emergency. That sinking feeling is because you KNOW most of them did not listen to or give any credence to anything you tried to tell them. So now what?

How many of those folks will be showing up at your door? Will you open the door or do you yell from behind a closed door to go away? Did you tell them about everything you had so they will not leave without you giving them at least some of your preps? Or worse… are they the type who will take it violently forcibly from you? Maybe like my husband you have a soft heart and can’t refuse to feed hungry children. Yet even this gentle man has stated that his own family will come first before he takes in more. Now the question is at what point do we harden our hearts to feeding others, helping them. Have you thought ahead about any of this? Have you planned any rules for those you don’t want or can’t turn away? More importantly, when would you discuss any of those rules? Most would need to be discussed ahead of time so that there were no surprises later for anyone.

Basic rules should include for everyone to empty whatever stores or food and cleansers they have and bring them along with clothing and beddings. Seems pretty basic but not all people think logically. Prescriptions and personal clothing and bedding can be kept personal but once they enter your home, everything else would need to be considered payment for taking them in. Obviously this won’t be a rental situation but as much as are mostly loathe to a socialistic society, there will have to be a realization that we will all need to share equally. So that brings us to the next rule.

Everyone will need to help out, to work together. Chores will need to be divided as to each person’s strengths and weaknesses. Cleaning will be very important in order to not have a bacteria Petri dish situation. That means clean kitchen and clean bathroom facilities too. Laundry would probably not be a daily occurrence so it will need lots of helpers too. In our situation, we have animals and chickens to care for also in addition to very large garden that would need lots of helpers! Naturally those small children will need supervision and education depending on how life is being lived at the moment. Hopefully someone steps up as a worthy spiritual leader too.

No one wants to think in terms of zombies at the door or other monsters but what if? If the situation has gotten to the point of rioting or looting, then security will become a major issue too. How you choose to handle that will be a major point of discussion left to others to debate with you. I am not a weapons expert and certainly have never been in a combat situation o I am not one to debate those issues here.

Up to now I have been relying on my husband and four sons (adults) to do much of the physical heavy stuff such as building hutches and coops. I do most of the cleaning and I so most of the gardening work with my husband’s guidance and experience talking me through what I haven’t done before. Both of us do kitchen work of all type including the cleaning and the cooking and shopping for supplies. My sons and my husband also fish and hunt to provide additional food for the family. My sons have come a great distance in learning what items will be needed if any emergency arises so they scout wisely at auctions, garage sales, and thrift stores. Finally everyone has realized that there has to be one main boss – in our patriarchal family, that’s the dad. It cannot be a democracy because I guarantee there would be too many disagreements, especially within non-family members. Fortunately for our family everyone pretty much agrees with one another on main points so we will survive without the additional headaches that some of you may face. We have already decided on helping certain extended family and even a few close friends who are aware that we will help them. They also understand what we expect of them, what we expect them to contribute to our plan. Because of our personal circumstances we will most likely stay in our home with no plan to “bug out” to elsewhere. For us there is no other place unless our situation and finances change drastically. Our plans mean adapting to whatever comes our way here at home. For others of you, you may fear something worse and are able to have another place to go to. That should and would affect the decisions you should be making now facing helping others or turning them away. But make no mistake – now is the time to think it through and make plans – not after things have fallen apart. Then will be too late – and the idea here is to plan in order to not make more stress than you need to deal with later!